Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of AI-based conversational agents for promoting mental health and well-being (2023) by Salome Apkhazishvili https://padlet.com/salomeapkhazi/b9gm5f2en4v68kzw Authors: Han Li, Renewen Zhang, Yi-Chieh Lee, Robert E. Kraut, and David C. Mohr | Presetnter: Salome Apkhazishvili | Digital Media and Identity en-us 2024-03-14 18:46:09 UTC 2024-03-26 18:50:54 UTC hello@padlet.com https://padlet.net/icons/png/1f916.png Presentation Agenda salomeapkhazi https://padlet.com/salomeapkhazi/b9gm5f2en4v68kzw/wish/2919438479

  • Social and Scholarly Significance

  • Understanding AI agents

  • Methodological Insights

  • Major themes/findings

  • Wrap up & Discussion



    • ]]>     2024-03-14 18:46:23 UTC https://padlet.com/salomeapkhazi/b9gm5f2en4v68kzw/wish/2919438479     Social Significance #1 salomeapkhazi https://padlet.com/salomeapkhazi/b9gm5f2en4v68kzw/wish/2919438480 Context - Mental Health in America


    • The national representative survey conducted by APA in 2023 recorded the dynamics of stress among people of all ages in the United States. The pandemic played a significant role in increasing the need for mental healthcare.

    • Young population report highest effects of stress





    ]]>     2024-03-14 18:46:23 UTC https://padlet.com/salomeapkhazi/b9gm5f2en4v68kzw/wish/2919438480     Social Significance #2 salomeapkhazi https://padlet.com/salomeapkhazi/b9gm5f2en4v68kzw/wish/2919438481 Context - Use of AI in Mental Healthcare


    • According to One Mind PsyberGuide, there are around 20, 000 mental health apps on the digital market. (Clay, 2015)

    • Amidst the mental health care shortage, young people turn to AI Chatbots for help. (Chkareuli, 2023)

    • Support for using AI to deal with mental health problems among the US population is not as strong as support for using robotics for surgery, skin, and pain management. (PEW Research Center, 2023)





    ]]>     2024-03-14 18:46:23 UTC https://padlet.com/salomeapkhazi/b9gm5f2en4v68kzw/wish/2919438481     ELIZA - The First AI chatbot created in the 1960s by Joseph Weizenbaum salomeapkhazi https://padlet.com/salomeapkhazi/b9gm5f2en4v68kzw/wish/2919497723 MIT researcher Joseph Weizenbaum predicted that "AI would never make a good therapist, though it could be made to sound like one." (Rosenthal, 2023)

    ]]>     2024-03-14 19:38:40 UTC https://padlet.com/salomeapkhazi/b9gm5f2en4v68kzw/wish/2919497723     Scholarly Significance salomeapkhazi https://padlet.com/salomeapkhazi/b9gm5f2en4v68kzw/wish/2919506706

  • The most recent systematic review and meta-analysis of the effectiveness of CA agents in mental healthcare, as opposed to previous research on rule-based agents.

  • The focus is on the user experience of using CA agents for mental health support

  • Provides suggestions on different types of CA and their effectiveness on mental health outcomes in different contexts, and among different populations.



    • ]]>     2024-03-14 19:49:03 UTC https://padlet.com/salomeapkhazi/b9gm5f2en4v68kzw/wish/2919506706     Understanding AI AGENTS salomeapkhazi https://padlet.com/salomeapkhazi/b9gm5f2en4v68kzw/wish/2919511753

  • Chatbots vs Conversational AI

  • Retrieval-based vs Conversation-based

  • Text-based vs. audiovisual


    • ]]>     2024-03-14 19:54:47 UTC https://padlet.com/salomeapkhazi/b9gm5f2en4v68kzw/wish/2919511753     Response Generation Techniques salomeapkhazi https://padlet.com/salomeapkhazi/b9gm5f2en4v68kzw/wish/2919536756 2024-03-14 20:21:04 UTC https://padlet.com/salomeapkhazi/b9gm5f2en4v68kzw/wish/2919536756 Difference between Chatbots and CAs salomeapkhazi https://padlet.com/salomeapkhazi/b9gm5f2en4v68kzw/wish/2919539299 2024-03-14 20:24:22 UTC https://padlet.com/salomeapkhazi/b9gm5f2en4v68kzw/wish/2919539299 Meta-analysis and Systematic Review salomeapkhazi https://padlet.com/salomeapkhazi/b9gm5f2en4v68kzw/wish/2919542156 What's the difference between these two?


    ]]>     2024-03-14 20:27:59 UTC https://padlet.com/salomeapkhazi/b9gm5f2en4v68kzw/wish/2919542156     Difference between Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis salomeapkhazi https://padlet.com/salomeapkhazi/b9gm5f2en4v68kzw/wish/2919544261 2024-03-14 20:30:41 UTC https://padlet.com/salomeapkhazi/b9gm5f2en4v68kzw/wish/2919544261 PRISMA Framework salomeapkhazi https://padlet.com/salomeapkhazi/b9gm5f2en4v68kzw/wish/2919547649 Initial search results (after duplicates removed): 7834 articles

    Systematic Review: 35 articles

    Meta-Analysis: 15 randomized trials

    Publication date range: Inception of each database-2023



    ]]>     2024-03-14 20:35:05 UTC https://padlet.com/salomeapkhazi/b9gm5f2en4v68kzw/wish/2919547649     Systematic Analysis salomeapkhazi https://padlet.com/salomeapkhazi/b9gm5f2en4v68kzw/wish/2919552345 2024-03-14 20:41:41 UTC https://padlet.com/salomeapkhazi/b9gm5f2en4v68kzw/wish/2919552345 Descriptive data salomeapkhazi https://padlet.com/salomeapkhazi/b9gm5f2en4v68kzw/wish/2919563325

  • Out of 35 studies:

    • Quasi-experimental (n=19)

    • Randomized trial (n=16)

  • Overall, 17, 123 participants from 15 countries

  • The majority of articles (n=27) were published in 2020

  • Participants age range: 11-92

  • 50% of studies involved non-clinical population

  • CAs are commonly used to deliver psychotherapy and psychoeducational content

  • Platforms: Smartphones and tablets



    • ]]>     2024-03-14 20:48:05 UTC https://padlet.com/salomeapkhazi/b9gm5f2en4v68kzw/wish/2919563325     Major outcomes the researchers look at salomeapkhazi https://padlet.com/salomeapkhazi/b9gm5f2en4v68kzw/wish/2919566593 2024-03-14 20:52:44 UTC https://padlet.com/salomeapkhazi/b9gm5f2en4v68kzw/wish/2919566593 Positive vs Negative Experiences with CA salomeapkhazi https://padlet.com/salomeapkhazi/b9gm5f2en4v68kzw/wish/2919569678 2024-03-14 20:57:09 UTC https://padlet.com/salomeapkhazi/b9gm5f2en4v68kzw/wish/2919569678 Discussion Questions salomeapkhazi https://padlet.com/salomeapkhazi/b9gm5f2en4v68kzw/wish/2919586513

  • Is there anything important I missed while presenting the article?

  • How do you explain heterogeneity in results, and what's your evaluation of the authors' statistical techniques to deal with that limitation?

  • The study findings have an overall positive tone, meaning that the CA agents can be promising during the mental healthcare crisis. Could you explain the motives and reasons for dominating positivity in the conversation despite raising concerns about the ethics and security of AI agents in mental healthcare? (e.g. refer to Pew survey)

  • How would you explain the meta-analysis findings regarding CAs larger effect on depression but no effect on anxiety?

  • The studies compare clinical and non-clinical populations while analyzing the CAs effect size. What methodological observation could you make on this specific decision?

  • How can CAs deal with the intercultural context?


    • ]]>     2024-03-14 21:22:26 UTC https://padlet.com/salomeapkhazi/b9gm5f2en4v68kzw/wish/2919586513     PICO framework (inclusion criteria) salomeapkhazi https://padlet.com/salomeapkhazi/b9gm5f2en4v68kzw/wish/2919598226

  • Population: People of all ages

  • Interventions: AI-based Conversational Agents - "software agents or bots that leverage NLP, machine learning, or other AI models and techniques to simulate the human-like conversations."(H. Li et al., 2023, p.10)

  • Comparator: studies with comparisons

  • Outcome: psychological distress or well-being

  • Study: Any experimental study design

    • ]]>     2024-03-14 21:38:24 UTC https://padlet.com/salomeapkhazi/b9gm5f2en4v68kzw/wish/2919598226     Meta-Analysis salomeapkhazi https://padlet.com/salomeapkhazi/b9gm5f2en4v68kzw/wish/2919954853 2024-03-15 03:09:33 UTC https://padlet.com/salomeapkhazi/b9gm5f2en4v68kzw/wish/2919954853 Findings #1 salomeapkhazi https://padlet.com/salomeapkhazi/b9gm5f2en4v68kzw/wish/2919965388 Using AI-based CAs found to be related to:

    • Significantly greater reduction in psychological distress (g=0.7)

    • Statistically insignificant improvements in general well-being (g=0.32)

    • Positive influence on ameliorating depression, but not so significant impact on anxiety.

    • Heterogeneous outcomes

      (Potential reasons: performance bias, and attribution bias)


    ]]>     2024-03-15 03:18:33 UTC https://padlet.com/salomeapkhazi/b9gm5f2en4v68kzw/wish/2919965388     Findings #2 salomeapkhazi https://padlet.com/salomeapkhazi/b9gm5f2en4v68kzw/wish/2919972679 CAs can decrease the psychological distress in the following conditions:

    • A larger positive impact comes from generative (vs. retrieval) multimodal and voice-based (vs. text-based) agents.

    • Effect is stronger with tablets, smartphones, instant chats vs computer

    • Middle age/older adults experience a more noticeable impact vs young adults

    • Reduction in psychological distress was more noticeable among the clinical/subclinical population vs. the non-clinical population

    ]]>     2024-03-15 03:24:23 UTC https://padlet.com/salomeapkhazi/b9gm5f2en4v68kzw/wish/2919972679     A chatbot helped more people access mental-health services salomeapkhazi https://padlet.com/salomeapkhazi/b9gm5f2en4v68kzw/wish/2919985811 2024-03-15 03:35:58 UTC https://padlet.com/salomeapkhazi/b9gm5f2en4v68kzw/wish/2919985811 Can AI Chatbots Ever Replace Human Therapists? salomeapkhazi https://padlet.com/salomeapkhazi/b9gm5f2en4v68kzw/wish/2934378534 2024-03-26 18:42:04 UTC https://padlet.com/salomeapkhazi/b9gm5f2en4v68kzw/wish/2934378534 Therapy by chatbot? The promise and challenges in using AI for mental health salomeapkhazi https://padlet.com/salomeapkhazi/b9gm5f2en4v68kzw/wish/2934380768 2024-03-26 18:44:39 UTC https://padlet.com/salomeapkhazi/b9gm5f2en4v68kzw/wish/2934380768